Thursday, September 4, 2014

Stargate SG-1: Survival of the Fittest

First of all, I didn't realize it had been so long! Wow, there must be something about September 4th that makes me want to write about Stargate novels. Anyway, a combination of reading other things and, unfortunately, reading less overall (change in work schedule) had me putting off reading the next Fandemonium novel in my growing stack. Glad to be back, though!

This novel by Sabine Bauer is #7 in the series, one of the reprints I mentioned in my last post. I have to say, I don't know why this one ever went out of print, I really enjoyed it. I expected it would have character or consistency flaws, but it was good on those fronts. I'm glad it is back in print for all to enjoy.

The cover is one of the most tailored to the book that I've seen from the series

The story sets off with Colonel Simmons and some bad-egg Marines. The training scenario that goes so poorly in the opening scenes of the novel never stuck me as quite as serious as the characters seem to imply, but it sets off a fun and imaginative, yet fairly dark, trip off world.

There is a lot of action in this one, and it is written well. Although some of the first parts of the book seem slow, once we are in the thick of it, somewhere around 50 pages in, we have Nirrti and more than the usual SGC members on a perilous adventure, and it picks up considerably. It's not a complicated story but it has some nice, original elements.

I liked that Dr. Fraiser plays a significant part in this story, with contributions from Hammond and others as well, with limited reliance on new characters. SG-1 are true to canon, although Jack O'Neill is perhaps darker than his usual self- but that seems to be the temptation for many of the Stargate writers.

Recommendation:

This is a good adventure. Go ahead and pick it up. It's quite like a typical episode, but with no need for cutting out details.

Spoilers:Janet is written particularly well in this one, and her struggle with Nirrti's mind-control seems as realistic as it is dramatic. Carter is also written well, although the flirting with an old colleague to get some classified intel in an early chapter had me a little skeptical at first. In fact, the mind-control overall was a good plot device in this novel, and although it seems a little convenient, the internal struggles it revealed were a good addition. Combined with the Jaffa Marines, it was all quite interesting. I liked these lines from the last few pages (Daniel is injured and hanging out annoying Carter in her office. O'Neill comes in):"'...And by the way, what are you doing here?' This last question was directed at Daniel, who grinned. 'I got fed up at home.' 'Ah,' said the Colonel, implying it was perfectly reasonable that anyone suffering from boredom should converge on Major Carter's lab."One more thing- I wish they hadn't had to kill the pigs! I was kind of hoping they would turn out to be sentient but mind-controlled friendly beings. I guess that wouldn't end the story quite as well.

Overall:

6 out of 7 chevrons locked!

Characters:

6.5 out of 7 chevrons locked!

Meaningful, interesting plot:

6 out of 7 chevrons engaged!

Shippyness:

Nothing too blatant; for example a little flirtiness that may just be flippancy when Carter and O'Neill meet back up and both of them are somehow underclothed (ok, that would never happen on the show). Enough to keep me happy like the quote above, nothing stressfully un-shippy.